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Written by Administrator
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(BUFFALO) - Employees in seven bargaining units in the Kaleida Health System decisively rejected a management contract offer in balloting conducted Wednesday (November 19th) by 1199 SEIU United Healthcare Workers East. Members of two smaller units approved the offer. Employees in the units rejecting the offer total 86% of the union's membership. Each group voted separately on the contract, with the employee negotiating committee members urging rejection.
Union officials were pleased with the result, and especially with the record turnout. 1199 SEIU's Employee Negotiating Committee at Kaleida Health and the union's Bargaining Council had both urged union members to reject management's latest contract offer. The 15-member Union Negotiating Committee voted unanimously to turn down Kaleida's offer after a disappointing 10-hour bargaining session last Wednesday, union officials said in a prepared statement. The Committee's recommendation for rejection was taken to the larger Bargaining Council for action Friday evening where it received overwhelming approval.
Talks between Kaleida management and 3,000 members of 1199 SEIU began in March. Contracts covering these employees expired May 31st. A Federal Mediator joined the talks November 12th.
The principal unresolved issue involves retirement benefits. 1199 SEIU members are covered by four different plans. The union is seeking more equitable and adequate retirement benefits. Kaleida management has not made sufficient movement toward settling this matter.
In late September, 1,000 employees and supporters picketed Kaleida finance and human resource offices to protest a lack of progress in negotiations.
1199 SEIU members in Kaleida work at Women and Children's Hospital of Buffalo, Buffalo General Hospital, Millard Fillmore Gates Circle and Suburban Hospitals, and in many outpatient facilities and offices located throughout Erie County. They also provide health services for approximately fifty public schools in Buffalo. They work as registered nurses, nurse practitioners, licensed practical nurses, medical technologists and technicians, pharmacists, administrative, business office clerical, service, and maintenance employees. |
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Written by Tom Campbell
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(BUFFALO) - Members of American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) Local 264 have voted 375-to-20 today (Wednesday, November 19th) to accept a new nine-year contact with the City of Buffalo, which includes a 20% wage increase over the life of the contract and an agreement on a “lesser health plan that saves the city money,” union officials said.
“We’ve been negotiating a new contract through two mayors going back into 2003. We had two meetings yesterday and three hundred members attended, asked questions and then voted to approve it today, but it’s not a done deal. The Common Council votes on this on November 25th and it goes to the City Control Board on December 5th. I always worry about a union contract going to the Control Board for approval,” an extremely cautious, but pleased, AFSCME President Local 264 President Bill Travis told WNYLaborToday.com this evening.
More than 500 Local 264-represented workers impacted by the new deal are responsible for garbage pickup, serve as snowplow drivers, provide maintenance in city buildings, among other city duties.
However, Travis pointed out this agreement does not impact those city employees represented by Local 264 in the Housing Department and at the Board of Education.
AFSCME Local 264 officials said the new contract – which is retroactive to July 1st, 2002 and runs until June 30th, 2011 - calls for the following:
- A 4.2% wage increase effective July 1st, 2007, which equates to a $1,350 upgrade.
- A 3.1% wage increase effective July 1st, 2008, plus a $1,400 cash payment (which equates to another 4.4%).
- A wage increase of 4.1% in 2009, and
- A wage increase of 4.15% in 2010.
Regarding health care, AFSCME Local 264 agreed to “a lesser plan that saved the city money,” Travis said. It was agreed that new hires will play a flat fee for their health coverage and those members who choose to retire anytime over the next 12 years will have the opportunity to “opt back into their old health coverage,” said Travis, who noted the average age of those members affected by the contract is 51.
(WNYLaborToday.com will publish an in-depth interview with AFSCME Local 264 President Bill Travis next week involving the new contract, the Union’s relationship with City of Buffalo elected leaders, as well as the Control Board, and where AFSCME and Local 264 goes from here.) |
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Written by Administrator
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(BUFFALO) - Legendary Local Labor Playwright Dr. Emanuel Manny Fried’s latest offering – Drop Hammer – has opened at the Subversive Theatre Collective in North Buffalo and has been extended another week, until Sunday, December 14th. Admission is Free.
In short, Drop Hammer is described as a historical and hard-hitting blue-collar drama with lessons for rank-and-file Union Members that are still all too relevant today. The play is set in the late 1950s during a time when the plant closures and southward migration had begun and centers on the bitter differences that ripped apart one of Buffalo's Industrial Unions.
“This play is full of drama,” Michael Fanelli, board vice chair and executive director of The Subversive Theatre Collective, who once served as a steward for the union representing inspectors at JFK Airport in New York City, told those in attendance at a recent meeting of the Buffalo AFL-CIO Central Labor Council.
Buffalo News Critic Ted Hadley recently reviewed Drop Hammer and called it: A hard-hitting and intense look into one Labor Union's internal struggles. |
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Written by Tom Campbell
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(BUFFALO) - In 2006, right under the nose of then Erie County Executive Joel Giambra - who had opposed proposed county Apprenticeship Training and Lowest Responsible Bidder laws - 11 undocumented workers were found working on a county asbestos removal project inside the Rath County Office Building. As it was further exposed in the local media, it was also determined the undocumented workers were employed by a New Jersey contractor that had been cited for similar and past problems in both federal and state courts.
In order to prevent history from happening again and learning from past mistakes, Erie County Legislator Tim Kennedy is looking to put an end to the burgeoning problem of irresponsible and unscrupulous contractors that would take advantage of the system. As such, Kennedy leads an initial group of seven legislators in introducing and backing a Lowest Responsible Bidder Resolution that would strengthen and encourage such requirements in the awarding of Erie County construction contracts.
“You’d think so as history often repeats itself, but county leadership needs to pay attention to what has happened in the past,” Legislator Kennedy tells WNYLaborToday.com. He intends to clock in the proposed Lowest Responsible Bidder bill on Friday. After it ages for a period of eight days, a public hearing will be held and a vote scheduled thereafter, he explained.
Currently supporting the resolution are legislators Kennedy, Maria Whyte, Robert Reynolds, Michelle Iannello, Daniel Kozub, Barbara Miller-Williams and Betty Jean Grant. However, three more are needed to sign on to the proposed legislation so it can avoid a sure veto from Erie County Executive Christopher Collins, who not only opposes this proposed Lowest Responsible Bidder Resolution, but also opposes and has scuttled previously approved Apprenticeship Utilization Language in county construction contracts.
“What it does is cut out irresponsible competition. How does that hurt county taxpayers? It just doesn’t make sense,” Kennedy said. “A veto of something like this sends the wrong message to county taxpayers. It shows our monies are not being used appropriately. Those in county government who oppose it need to take the time to read the language. If they did, they would see that it weeds out those who’ve violated law in the past and stops them from bidding for a period of five years. All I can say is those who are not supporting it must have not read the bill.”
Kennedy says in order for it to be veto-proof, 10 county legislators are needed to support and vote in the affirmative. “I’m currently reaching out to both sides of the aisle and I’m confident that every legislator – in the end - will realize the importance of this law in our community. I’m also extremely hopeful that loyalties to the county executive and politics will be put aside and those legislators will step forward and support positive county policy,” he said. |
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Written by Administrator
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(BUFFALO) - Negotiations are set to resume on Wednesday between management and Teamsters Local 375, which represents more than 400 EMS first responders at Rural/Metro Corporation, who provide ambulance service for the City of Buffalo and 20 other communities across Western New York.
In an interview with WNYLaborToday.com, Teamsters spokesman Richard Lipsitz said talks are also scheduled to be held on Thursday. Rural/Metro Teamsters have been without a contract since June, and just in the past year, employees of Rural/Metro were forced to sue the company to make it raise starting wages to $7.90 in order to comply with Buffalo’s Living Wage ordinance. Rural/Metro responds to over 100,000 calls a year in Western New York, union officials said.
The Teamsters were scheduled to hold a news conference today (Tuesday, November 18th) at 11:30 a.m. on the steps of City Hall in Downtown Buffalo to bring attention to the negotiations.
“While first responders at Rural/Metro risk their lives to save lives every day in Western New York, Rural Metro’s refused to bring their wages up to the level of similar competitors in the area. Rural/Metro Teamsters deserve to earn the standard, average wages earned by other first responders in Buffalo and across Upstate New York, just like citizens of Buffalo and the surrounding communities should receive the same quality ambulance care given to citizens across upstate New York,” Lipsitz said.
“Thousands of working people have signed their names to petitions demanding that Rural/Metro treat its employees, our first responders, fairly and with the respect and dignity they deserve. Quality ambulance care is a right for the citizens of Western New York and public officials must make sure that Rural/Metro is living up to its responsibility,” he said.
The Teamsters stated in a prepared statement that Rural/Metro is a profitable corporation. According to the union, Rural/Metro’s recently-released first quarter results for Fiscal 2009 show a six-percent increase from the previous year, with operating income up 22% from the previous year. While Rural/Metro’s average patient charge has increased by $13 since the previous first quarter, Rural/Metro recently awarded their executives a bonus increase for the upcoming year, allowing certain executives to earn cash bonuses of over 100% of their annual salary, union officials added.
“Is Rural/Metro concerned about the people of Buffalo or their bottom line?,” Lipsitz asked. |
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